


Toward the Badlands

by Draskireis



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Other, also observant, oblivious boys, open communication!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-23
Updated: 2017-10-23
Packaged: 2019-01-22 00:49:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12469796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Draskireis/pseuds/Draskireis
Summary: Dex & Nursey talk as they drive across the country in the summer between their sophomore and junior years.





	Toward the Badlands

It hadn’t _quite_ been a fight.  Nevertheless, Dex was angrily—no, defensively, Nursey saw—silent, withdrawn into himself because the hurt needed to go somewhere.  Maybe he really didn’t want to hurt Nursey.  A guy could hope.

For his part, Nursey drove.  They were coming up on the Badlands, and he hoped to get through them around sunset or dusk.  Give or take.  The park would do them both good.  He let Dex have his silence.  Didn’t even turn on music.  Mostly thought about traffic and the road and the upcoming visits with R&H in Seattle and then Chowder.

Miles later, Dex stirred and looked at Nursey again, tentative—careful.

‘Tell me about boarding school?’  He sounded uncertain. 

Nursey took the olive branch.  ‘What do you want me to tell you?’

‘What you think I’d want to hear.  What you want me to know.  What you did and didn’t like about it.  I’m not sure I know enough to ask good questions.’

‘Don’t worry, it’s—it’s fine.  You gave me a lot to go on, there.’  Nursey smiled, eyes still on the road.  ‘I liked not living alone.  I disliked living with assholes.  Those were often overlapping features of the dorms.  The racism and classism were nearly interchangeable, and I often got both, if mistakenly.’

Nursey paused, but Dex made no comment.  So he continued.

‘I can’t compare it to a “normal” high school experience, whatever that means, cuz I didn’t have one. You’ll have to do the comparing yourself.  Dorm faculty were better parents to me than my own were; better than all but a couple of the parade of nannies and aux pairs.’

‘Sorry to interrupt, but what’s an au pair?’

‘Like a nanny, but one who lives with the family.  I had a bunch of those until I was midway through Andover.  Speaking of, weird names for grades.  Like, moreso than most—prep, lower-mid, upper-mid, senior.’

‘How the fuck did that end up the scheme?’

‘Dunno.  Old white dudes having different ideas from other old white dudes?  Some schools do forms—third through sixth, because England or whatever.  And also apparently starting once upon a time in seventh grade.  I only mention this cuz it’s hard to consistently remember to translate into freshman through senior—I’ll try, but make no guarantees.

‘Back to dorm faculty, though.  My upper-mid year, my dorm head was more or less my, like, personal boss.  Campbell was my advisor, hockey coach, dorm head, and English teacher.  Occasionally a substitute father.  He’s the one who got me to expand my focus beyond poetry and who edited my college essays.  Tossed dictionaries at or toward my feet if I interrupted too often in class or mouthed off too much.’  Nursey smiled fondly at the memory.

‘And you… _liked_ this guy?’  Dex sounded incredulous.

‘Yeah, he was great.  Took no shit.  Cared mad deep about all his kids—students, athletes, advisees, dormers, whatever.  Brutal coach, though.  Called us out when we weren’t up to snuff.’  He didn’t mean to, but he knew his voice sounded off.

‘What is it?’

‘Huh?’

‘What happened?’

‘What do you mean?’  _shit.  He noticed_ , Derek thought.

‘You paused and your voice went… it lost its façade of chill.  So.  What happened?’  Dex was watching him intently, Nursey could see it in his periphery.  He could see Dex reconsider pressing, see his face shift toward uncertainty.

‘He—he knew.  Like, he knew everything.  Even the bits Shitty doesn’t, that you don’t—he knew about my parents, the depression, the racism, the team’s general awfulness.  He only scolded me in private, did his best to cut me slack on bad days without showing favoritism.  I wasn’t kidding about the substitute father thing.’

‘But your dad—’

‘Is a very successful businessman who puts it on his calendar to call me monthly, tell me he loves me, and ask at least three questions about what I’m doing, at least one related to depression, and at least one about my future.’  Nursey had seen the calendar entry, once.  It had explained a lot, and not helped even a little.

Dex exhaled like he’d been gut punched.  ‘Fuck.’

‘I’m as over it as I can really get, I think.  For now.’  Nursey hopes he sounds tired rather than bitter as he signaled and changed lanes.  ‘Hey.  Could.  Could I get you to take over for a sec?  I need a moment to put my chill back together.  Sorry.’

‘Don’t apologize.  Do pull over.  Unless you object, you’re getting a hug.’

Nursey pulled over to the side of the highway and stopped the car.  There was an overpass up ahead, and a cornfield on the other side of the ditch that paralleled the highway.  The humidity invaded the car the instant Nursey opened his door.  Dex also got out; he circled around from his side of the car.  Dex caught Nursey in a hug, and tightened his arms when Nursey sagged into the embrace.  He pretended not to notice Nursey sniffling into his shirt, and waited for Nursey to pull back before letting go.

They got into the car and assumed their new positions.  Dex started it and began driving.  After maybe a mile had passed in silence, Dex held a hand out.

‘What?’

‘Phone.  Unless you wanna listen to my music.’

‘Cord’s over here.’

‘Uh.  Right.  Well, same threat applies.’

‘Sure thing, Dexy.’

Nursey plugged his phone into the aux cable and started flicking through songs. 

‘We’re still heading for the Badlands, right?’  Dex didn’t react to the impromptu medley.

‘Yeah.’

‘You up for being our navigator?’  Dex had his careful voice on—either he was worried or he actually… cared?  Nursey wasn’t sure which possibility was more dangerous.

‘Making me DJ _and_ navigate?  Any other jobs you wanna foist on me?’  It was a weak chirp, but he backed up with a small smile and hoped Dex got the message.  Nursey eventually stopped shuffling when he heard the opening chords of the Battle of Yorktown.  ‘Keep going another forty minutes.  Real directions will probably involve following signage.’

‘Aye, Captain.’

It started quietly, as Nursey concentrated on his chill.  He wasn’t sure until he heard Dex miss a note.  After that, he sat back, closed his eyes, and listened to the unexpected gift of Dex humming along to Hamilton.  The song finished, and shuffle did its thing.  First Dessa’s Into the Spin, then Patrick Wolfe’s The Stars—and Nursey was shocked that Dex—with his punk and his mosh music and his dad rock—was humming along with everything that Nursey played.

‘If I didn’t know better, I’d think you’d been practicing.’

‘It kills me to admit it, Nursey, but your music… isn’t bad.’

‘but you still won’t sing to me?’

‘I…’ Dex blushed.  ‘Wasn’tsureifyou’dmakefunofmefornotknowingallthewords.’  He mumbled, compounding his embarrassment.

‘Promise I’ll never make fun of you for singing, Dexy.  Even if you won’t sing for me.’

‘I’ll keep that in mind.  You doing better?’  Dammit.  Back to careful voice.

‘Yeah.  Thanks.  Suppose I still owe you some boarding school stories, huh?’

‘You don’t owe me anything.  But I’ll listen to any stories you tell me.’

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this to get over a bit of writer's block in the course of the rather-longer fic for these two I've been working on for a while, first chunk forthcoming... soon. In the interim, I've revised, at least to some degree, Nursey's family dynamic so that I don't the obvious parts of this bit fit anymore. So I'll toss the excerpt up here as my first published fic. (All references to boarding school based on my or my family's experiences of same, if at times loosely as applied to Andover). Hope you enjoyed it!


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